Taylor Swift Shares How Boring Jobs Inspired ‘Ours’ Video

Taylor Swift‘s new ‘Ours’ video is a shoutout of sorts — a message to the millions of people around the world who work endless mundane jobs day after day, even though what they’re doing isn’t their true passion. In the latest webisode from her 13-part series, the 22-year-old hitmaker delves into the inspiration behind the video treatment.

“The inspiration for this video comes from a lot of different times that I’ve tried to do [things] other than music. And you know, if you get kind of funneled into a job that isn’t what you love doing, you end up like this a lot,” she says, mimicking a bored person falling asleep with their head in their hands. In the musical clip, Taylor portrays one of the people she’s reaching out to; a working girl who hates her job and only looks forward to the end of the day, where she gets to spend time with her playful boyfriend, portrayed by Zach Gilford.

Even the director, Declan Whitebloom, who also worked on Taylor’s ‘Mean’ video, has had sickeningly boring jobs in the past, which made his work on the ‘Ours’ clip all the more authentic. He recalls one where he worked for the English government and had to measure the size of newspaper advertisements in inches, saying funnily, “Even that makes me fall asleep — even saying that. I actually did that for a job.”

He adds, “I’m kind of recreating my life for Taylor. She’s got a good sense for things and I think the story… Lots of people will be able to relate. It’s a very common tale. You hate your job.”

Taylor continues, “Whether that’s taking classes in a school that you’re not passionate about, or taking summer jobs that are absolutely nothing like what you want to do with your life. It’s that feeling that makes people want to escape on the weekend. It’s that feeling that makes people rush home to see their family and hug their kids, because that’s what they live for.”